Greatest Cartoon Character Bracket - Round 3

Welcome to the Sweet 16 of cartoon characters!  That's right, folks, we're down to 16.  Round 2 provided us with a few upsets and surprises and Round 3 promises to be just as exciting as we get closer and closer to crowning a champion.

Here's some Round 2 analysis:

• Our first #1 seed went down.  Woody Woodpecker lost to the Roadrunner, and based on his near loss on in Round 1, I can't say I'm surprised.  Personally, Woody Woodpecker would be in my Final Four of greatest cartoon characters, but I'm thinking many of you find him annoying.  He still has his star on the Walk of Fame, though.
• We also lost two #2 seeds in this round: Popeye and Betty Boop.  These are two of the oldest characters on the list and their high seed was more a result of their iconic status than anything else.  I guess icons don't get a free pass to the Sweet 16.
• Despite having a strong first round showing, the Animaniacs failed to put up much of a fight against Fred Flintstone.  I look forward to the Flintstone-Scooby matchup in Round 3.
• Foghorn Leghorn pulled off another upset, taking down Rocky and Bullwinkle.  Foghorn continues to surprise as the Cinderella of the tournament.  He'll have a tough task ahead of him in the next round, though, as he takes on Bugs Bunny.

Round 3 thoughts:

• Not a single region had the top four seeds advance.
• Three double digit seeds advanced: #10 Papa Smurf, #11 Chilly Willy, and #13 Foghorn Leghorn
• There are four Disney characters left, four Looney Tunes characters, and five Hanna- Barbera characters
• Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Snoopy, Scooby Doo have all breezed through to this round, but I think they might get tougher challenges in this round.
• Fred Flintstone and Charlie Brown are the only animated human characters left
• There are two matchups pitting the same studio against itself: Fred Flintstone vs. Scooby Doo for Hanna-Barbera, and Bugs Bunny vs. Foghorn Leghorn for Looney Tunes (Warner Bros.)

Since two more of my favorites went down in Round 2 it'll be interesting to see how this round plays out.  I predict that the heavyweights will start flexing their muscle and advance, but what do I know.  Keep voting everyone and check back at the end of the round for more thoughts and analysis.
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http://cartoonvote.info/

Greatest Cartoon Character Bracket - Round 2

Well, Round 1 is in the books and we're down to 32 characters now.  I appreciate all those who took the time to vote and I encourage you all to vote in Round 2, which runs through Friday.

Here are some observations from Round 1:

• Both Simpsons characters, Homer and Bart, were eliminated in the first round.  I'll admit Bart had a tough first round matchup against Donald Duck, but I thought Homer would breeze into the next round going up against Foghorn Leghorn.  I guess Foghorn's classic appeal was too much to handle.
• Woody Woodpecker won a close battle with Speedy Gonzales.  I totally underestimated Speedy's popularity.  In my opinion, Woody is one of the all-time greats and I think he should easily breeze into the Elite Eight, if not the Final Four.  Apparently, others don't share that opinion, as there was strong support for little Speedy.
• Barney Rubble upsets Underdog.  This was one of two 14 over 3 upsets, but Transformers over Porky Pig was not as big a shock as this.  Underdog has a balloon in the Thanksgiving Day parade for crying out loud.  I really did not see Underdog getting bounced so early.
• Chip and Dale won pretty easily over the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  If I had to predict the matchups, I would have thought the Turtles would win this matchup.  This is another example of the old school beating out a newer cartoon.  Personally, I like it.
• Sentimental favorites like Grape Ape, Hong Kong Phooey, and Secret Squirrel all lost their opening matchups.  I'm a little sad that neither of those three made it to the second round, but I will admit they were not the most popular of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

And now some Round 2 analysis:

• Pluto was the only Disney character not to advance to Round 2.  I think at least two more will bow out in this round.
• The Barney Rubble-Chilly Willy matchup ensures that a double digit seed will advance to the Sweet 16.
• The Animaniacs had a strong performance in Round 1 and I expect them to have another strong showing against Fred Flintstone in this round.
• I predict that at least one, if not two, top 2 seeds will lose in this round. 
• There are eight matchups that pair animated animals.  There is only one that matches up two animated humans.

It will be interesting to see how Round 2 plays out.  Keep voting everyone and check back this weekend for more thoughts and analysis.
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Greatest Cartoon Character Bracket

Well, March Madness is here and everyone's got bracket fever, including me.  I love watching the NCAA tournament and filling out a bracket.  But this year I thought it would be fun to create my own bracket.  So I did.

I created a Greatest Cartoon Character Bracket.  I'm pitting 64 of the all-time greatest cartoon characters against each other to see who really is the greatest.  I'll admit it was quite difficult narrowing down the list to 64, and seeding them was even more difficult.  Some of you will undoubtedly be upset that one of your favorites didn't make the list, and you're entitled to your opinion, however wrong you may be.  I looked very closely at nostalgic appeal and iconic impact, so the list is comprised of mostly older characters.  Those of you who know me well shouldn't be surprised.  I then went through an extensive seeding process that will remain secret to protect the sanctity of the bracket.  But ultimately, I tried to prevent matchups of characters from the same studio for as long as possible.  That proved quite difficult with the amount of Hanna-Barbera characters in the field.  I think it came out pretty fair though.

Here is where this bracket is different from others.  YOU get to vote.  Thanks to my good friend, Steve Turri, we have a website devoted to the bracket where users can pick who they think should win each matchup.  Each round will last four days and winners will advance until only one is left.  I will provide commentary and thoughts throughout the tournament through this blog so check back often to hear what I have to say, or to procrastinate from doing something more important.  But here's all you have to do to vote:
Go to this site: http://cartoonvote.info/
Enter the password: toonmadness
Keep coming back to vote in each round.

I hope you all enjoy!